Table 4. Data Elements in the NIS Hospital Weights Files, 1999*

Data element: AHAID
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): AHA hospital identifier that matches AHA Annual Survey of Hospitals (not available for all States)

Data element: DISCWT
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Weight to discharges in AHA universe

Data element: HOSPADDR
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Hospital address from AHA Survey (not available for all states)

Data element: HOSPCITY
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Hospital city from AHA Survey (not available for all States)

Data element: HOSPID
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): HCUP hospital number (links to inpatient Core files)

Data element: HOSPNAME
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Hospital name from AHA Survey (not available for all States)

Data element: HOSPST
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Hospital State postal code for hospital (e.g., AZ for Arizona)

Data element: HOSPWT
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Weight to hospitals in AHA universe

Data element: HOSPZIP
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Hospital zip code from AHA Survey (not available for all states)

Data element: HOSP_BEDSIZE
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Bed size of hospital: (1) small, (2) medium, (3) large

Data element: HOSP_CONTROL
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Control/ownership of hospital: (0) government or private, collapsed category, (1) government, nonfederal, public, (2) private, non-profit, voluntary, (3) private, invest-own, (4) private, collapsed category

Data element: HOSP_LOCATION
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Location: (0) rural, (1) urban

Data element: HOSP_LOCTEACH
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Location/teaching status of hospital: (1) rural, (2) urban non-teaching, (3) urban teaching

Data element: HOSP_REGION
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Region of hospital: (1) Northeast, (2) Midwest, (3) South, (4) West

Data element: HOSP_TEACH
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Teaching status of hospital: (0) non-teaching, (1) teaching

Data element: IDNUMBER
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): AHA hospital identifier without the leading 6 (not available for all states)

Data element: NIS_STRATUM
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Stratum used to sample hospitals; includes geographic region, control, location/teaching status, and bed size

Data element: N_DISC_U
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Number of AHA universe discharges in NIS_STRATUM

Data element: N_HOSP_U
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Number of AHA universe hospitals in NIS_STRATUM

Data element: S_DISC_Ubr> Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Number of sample discharges in NIS_STRATUM

Data element: S_HOSP_U
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Number of sample hospitals in NIS_STRATUM

Data element: TOTAL_DISC
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Total number of discharges from this hospital in the NIS

Data element: YEAR
Description (numbers in brackets indicate variable coding): Calendar year